Minority language rights

Doing justice to multiculturalism

by Markus Haller

From Repression to Renaissance: French-language rights in Canada before the Charter.

by Matthew Hayday

Published in A History of Human Rights in Canada: Essential Issues, ed. Janet Miron, 182-200.  Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2009.

Review: Pańkin V. M. (ed.:) Kontaktologičeskij ènciklopedičeskij slovar'-spravočnik

by Marek Stachowski

Evaluation of Structured English Immersion and Bilingual Education on Reading Skills of Limited English Proficient Students in California and Texas

by Texas State PA Applied Research Projects

Sievert, Jessica, "Evaluation of Structured English Immersion and Bilingual Education on Reading Skills of Limited English Proficient Students in California and Texas" (2007). Applied Research Projects, Texas State University-San Marcos. Paper 262.
http://ecommons.txstate.edu/arp/262

The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of the structured English immersion program and the... more The purpose of this study is to compare the effectiveness of the structured English immersion program and the bilingual education program on the reading performance of limited English proficient students. The sample of this study is comprised of fourth grade Hispanic Spanish-speaking limited English proficient students from six campuses in southern California and six campuses in southern Texas who participated in the 2005 Reading National Assessment of Educational Progress. To determine the impact of these English language acquisition programs on these students’ reading skills, a multiple regression analysis was conducted. After controlling for several factors, results of the analysis show that neither structured English immersion nor bilingual education have a significant impact on the reading skills of LEP students. When deciding which program to implement, educators and policymakers may want to compare costs associated with each and determine the priority that a community places on maintaining a student’s native language.

Regional and minority languages in Ukrainian legislation

by Bronislav Totskyi

Abstract was published in "Minority politics within the Europe of regions, Cluj, 2010, pp. 30-31"

This article concerns Regional and minority languages in Ukrainian legislation. I try to investigate different... more This article concerns Regional and minority languages in Ukrainian legislation. I try to investigate different languages at the territory of Ukraine. Why do some of them have protectio but other - not. Moreover, I pay attention to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages usage in Ukraine.

La Corte costituzionale si pronuncia sulla "lingua piemontese": fra tutela delle minoranze linguistiche e incerti limiti di un "costituzionalismo regionale"

by Giacomo Delledonne

Published in "Le Regioni", no. 4/2011, pp. 718-730.

Towards Linguistic Diversity? Community Languages in Northern Ireland

by Philip McDermott

Shared Space: Journal of the Community Relations Council 2008 vol 5

Linguistic Human Rights and Education

by Antonia Mandry

Etude FORA: francoprovençal et occitan en Rhône-Alpes

by James Costa

Bert, M., Costa, J., & Martin, J.-B. (2009). Etude FORA: francoprovençal et occitan en Rhône-Alpes. from Institut Pierre Gardette, INRP, ICAR, DDL:

This document is a sociolinguistic study of the regional languages of the Rhône-Alpes region in France:... more This document is a sociolinguistic study of the regional languages of the Rhône-Alpes region in France: Francoprovençal and Occitan.

Pluralism and Minority Rights In Music Education: Implications of the Legal and Social Philosophical Dimension

by David Hebert

With Marja Heimonen, Visions of Research in Music Education.

Examines issues associated with minority rights in music education from the perspectives of social and legal... more Examines issues associated with minority rights in music education from the perspectives of social and legal philosophy. Specific cases are discussed, including educational policies pertaining to Native Americans in the U.S., Maori and Pacific Islanders in New Zealand, and Okinawans and Zainichi Koreans in Japan. The problem of children's rights in international law is discussed in relation to music activities in educational contexts. The notion of 'soft law' is explained in detail as well as specific applications to music. Concludes with discussion of how cultural heritage and rights to 'one's own music' are increasingly problematized by the phenomenon of cultural hybridity.

The demand for minority language education and its relation to the community’s self-representation: the case of Furlan and Apulia’s Francoprovençal

by Simone Ciccolone

(Not published) Ciccolone, Simone - Topadze, Manana - Ferrari, Valentina - Nevola, Luca (2009) “The demand for minority language education and its relation to the community’s self-representation: the case of Furlan and Apulia’s Francoprovençal” per la “International Conference of the Mercator Network” (Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden) (presented the 18 sept. 2009)

Minority groups’ self-representations have proved to be an essential aspect in the description of mi- nority language... more Minority groups’ self-representations have proved to be an essential aspect in the description of mi- nority language situations which can often determine the success or failure of specific language poli- cies. Among these policies, the teaching of the endangered language in primary school (frequently required by the community itself ) represents a critical step in almost every minority situation.
Aim of this paper is to present a multi-level comparison between two different situations: the case of Furlan in the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia and that of Francoprovençal in Apulia. Both lan- guages have undergone a relevant process of revitalization in the last decade, mostly thanks to specific language policies carried out after the introduction of the Law 482/1999 (with which the Italian Republic ratified the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages).
Besides the well known differences under both linguistic and sociolinguistic perspectives (such as diffusion among the speech community, Abstand from the majority language, different historical and cultural background), there appears to be some diverging dynamics in the communities’ self- representations and in the evaluations of the two minority languages by their respective speakers (cfr. Iannàccaro-Dell’Aquila 2004, Perta 2009).
Thanks to the Law 482/1999, a great amount of projects proposed by local schools have been fi- nanced in the last ten years with many different scopes and types of intervention: basically, the projects may focus either on language teaching or on transmission of cultural and/or traditional aspects of the minority group.
A compared analysis of the projects presented by local schools in the two areas will be presented, in order to elicit the attitudes towards the two different minority languages and observe particular trends in the demand for minority language education.
The main goal of the paper is to investigate the possible relations between sociolinguistic situation and perceived linguistic needs, expressed by the community through the demand for specific policies in primary education. The results of this study will give us a deeper insight in the sociolinguistic revi- talization processes and useful hints for a better implementation of future language policies.

"Speak German or Sweep the Schoolyard": A Personal View on Linguistic Human Rights in Germany

by Lucinda Martin

”ADFL Bulletin, Winter-Spring 2008. Vol. 39, Nos. 2 & 3: 19-27. Earlier version of the similar article in Profession 2008.

"Speak German or Sweep the Schoolyard": Linguistic Human Rights in Germany

by Lucinda Martin

Profession 2008: 130-145. A slightly different version of the paper was published earlier in: ADFL Bulletin, Winter-Spring 2008. Vol. 39, Nos. 2 & 3. S. 19-27 2008.

Emphasizing the connection between language, education and minority issues, the article reviews recent debates in... more Emphasizing the connection between language, education and minority issues, the article reviews recent debates in Germany regarding cultural and linguistic rights for minority groups. Many have hailed European countries' legal protections for so-called "national minorities" as progressive. Such laws promote cultural programs for autochthonous groups such as the Frisians and Sorbs in Germany, who were persecuted for generations by the German-speaking majority. Yet this article argues that laws protecting national minorities also, and primarily, serve a more cynical purpose: as a bulwark against newer minority groups. By carefully limiting cultural rights to tiny, traditional minorities, which have long since been subdued (the best example is Yiddish speakers), the German state excludes larger minority groups from making claims to the same protections.

Using Language to Help People, or People to Help Language? A Capabilities Typology of Language Acquisition Planning

by Dave Sayers

NOTE: THIS PAPER HAS MAJOR THEORETICAL AND FACTUAL PROBLEMS IDENTIFIED AT PEER REVIEW FEB 2011 – SOME REAL MISTAKES, OTHERS JUST POOR WORDING. THE BASIC ARGUMENT WAS WELL RECEIVED THOUGH, SO THIS DRAFT IS ONLINE AS A GENERAL BAG OF IDEAS, NOT FOR QUOTING, WHILE I REWORK IT INTO SOMETHING USEFUL.

Two ideological extremes can be identified in language policy and planning: the desire to help people by using... more Two ideological extremes can be identified in language policy and planning: the desire to help people by using language; and the desire to help language by using people. Using Sen’s (1985) ‘capabilities’ approach to development, the typology in this article spans between these two extremes. The typology begins with efforts to raise proficiency in majority languages – increasing people’s capabilities but ultimately indifferent to minority languages themselves. A range of cases is then considered, from language maintenance in bilingual populations through to revival of long dead languages, whereby languages are given progressively greater priority, and concerns over capabilities gradually fade from view. A first purpose is to add theoretical structure to an existing debate over the moral basis of language planning. A second is to distinguish two aims: working with existing native speakers of a language, and attracting new speakers – a contrast often overlooked, but predictive of this humanitarian departure.

'Reversing Babel: Declining linguistic diversity and the flawed attempts to protect it' (PhD thesis)

by Dave Sayers

For those not logged into academia.edu, it's also online here:
https://www.essex.ac.uk/linguistics/publications/theses/PDFs/2000-2009/2009/Sayers_ReversingBabel.pdf

This thesis is not to be confused with 'Babel No More: The Search for the World’s Most Extraordinary Language Learners', by Michael Erard. There is some overlap though, and readers of one may be interested in the other.

Abstract:

This is an investigation about linguistic diversity, examining its decline in different societal... more Abstract:

This is an investigation about linguistic diversity, examining its decline in different societal conditions over the last century, and interrogating claims in language policy and planning to be ‘protecting linguistic diversity’, using the UK as its main example.

Chapter 1 comprises a review of variationist sociolinguistics, showing how it has never fully defined linguistic diversity. Adjustments are suggested, and a working definition of linguistic diversity offered.

Chapter 2 presents data from two major nationwide dialect surveys, in 1889 and 1962, showing how local dialects were weakening in this period. The main focus is declining diversity, but information is presented about possible conditioning factors, primarily increases in literacy.

In the absence of such nationwide reports after 1962, Chapter 3 collates individual dialect studies from two regions of England, the northeast and southeast, describing dialect convergence across these large geographical areas. These changes are contrasted to those reported in Chapter 2. Again the main theme is declining diversity, but information is reviewed to help explain these contrasts, primarily increases in geographical mobility in the latter half of the 20th century, concentrated around these regions.

Chapter 4 examines dialect weakening that some researchers have attributed, at least in part, to the media. This also represents a change in societal conditions undergirding declining diversity. Some theoretical work is done to distinguish such changes from those observed in Chapter 3.

Chapter 5 reviews the rhetoric of minority language policy and planning, and its frequent and explicit claims to be ‘protecting linguistic diversity’. The insights developed in Chapters 1-4 are applied to two modern UK language revivals, Cornish and Welsh, to see how diversity overall is faring here.

The conclusion sums up the gaps in our thinking about linguistic diversity, and clarifies the limitations of planned interventions upon language.

Acknowledging and protecting language rights on SABC TV through the use of subtitles.

by Jako Olivier

OLIVIER, J.A.K. 2011. Acknowledging and protecting language rights on SABC TV through the use of subtitles. Communicatio, 37(2).

In this article the use of subtitles is proposed as a way by means of which the problem of acknowledging and... more In this article the use of subtitles is proposed as a way by means of which the problem of acknowledging and recognizing language rights on SABC TV can be addressed. The concept of language rights is approached in terms of how it is understood in the field of sociolinguistics. Within the South African context the language provisions in the Constitution (1996) need to be taken into account. An overview is also provided of multilingual broadcasting and of how this type of broadcasting is realised by SABC TV. Despite legislation and SABC policy that accommodate the acknowledgement and protection of language rights, SABC TV favours the use of English. In this article the importance is emphasised of pivot and bilingual subtitles within the South African situation. Finally, this article proposes subtitling as a method through which multilingual broadcasting can be realised and the language rights of the speakers of languages other than English be acknowledged and protected on SABC TV.

The Politics of Intolerance: US Language Policy In Process

by Panayota Gounari

Taboo, Fall-Winter 2000, pp. 11-20.

“How to Tame a Wild Tongue: Language Rights in the US”

by Panayota Gounari

in the Journal of Human Architecture, Vol. IV, Summer 2006, pp. 71-77.

The call for a “common language” and a “shared identity that makes us Americans” not only hides a more pernicious... more The call for a “common language” and a “shared identity that makes us Americans” not only hides a more pernicious social and cultural agenda but it is also part of the present attempt toward the ‘reorganization of a ‘cultural hegemony’ as evidenced in the conservatives on the multiplicity of languages spoken in the United States. This ultimately guarantees that these groups will remain repressed, marginalized and cut off from the wealth of resources that the dominant group has full access. As a result, the current debate over bilingual education has very little to do with language per se; the real issue that under-girds the English-Only movements in the United States is economic, social, and political control of a dominant minority over a largely subordinate majority that no longer fit the profile of what it means be part of “our common culture” and speak “our common language.” Along these lines, cultural difference is not simply the mere existence of different cultures but a particular constructed discourse at a time when something is being challenged about power or authority. It has to do with the ways economic and cultural goods are distributed, with questions of access and with maintaining power relations (Bhabha 1999). The attack on languages other than English denies immigrant children a basic human and civil right, namely the right to learn in their native language.

Language Rights, Literacy, and the Modern State

by Jacob Levy

in Will Kymlicka and Alan Patten, eds., Language Rights and Political Theory, Oxford University Press, 2003

Towards a Multilingual Citizenship? Another Look at the History of Language Minority Rights in the United States

by Ghislain Potriquet

in Turi, Joseph, Jie Wang et Jinzhi Su (ed.). Law, Language and
Linguistic Diversity. Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference of the International Academy of Linguistic Law. Beijing: Law Press China, 2006

Although contemporary American language policy debates are highly ideological, language ideologies alone do not... more Although contemporary American language policy debates are highly ideological, language ideologies alone do not account for actual policies. This paper attempts to demonstrate how citizenship proves crucial to the understanding of language policies and the language rights they allow. As a legal reality, citizenship underscores the importance of a stable institutional environment for the protection of language rights. As a political concept, citizenship implies a definite set of language rights. Although American citizenship only allows negative language rights, it also leaves the door open for a greater recognition of language diversity